Tex Harris, U.S. diplomat who helped bring Argentine dictatorship's crimes to light, dies at 79

[sandensea]

Allen “Tex” Harris, the United States diplomat who helped save the lives of Argentines during the brutal 1976-83 military dictatorship, has died.

The tall, robust ex-U.S. official, who commanded great respect in the human rights community, passed away on Monday, sources close to the family confirmed. He was 79.

Beginning his service in 1965, Harris served in the U.S. Foreign Service for over 35 years.

Sent by President Jimmy Carter to monitor Argentina's military dictatorship and its nuclear ambitions, Harris arrived in Buenos Aires in June 1977 - where he served as a junior officer in the U.S. Embassy.

But after learning of the human rights abuses at that time, efforts to combat state-sponsored terror quickly became his primary focus.

Receiving thousands of complaints denouncing abuses perpetrated by the Jorge Videla regime (1976-81), Harris opened the doors of U.S. Embassy to relatives of the missing and their details of the disappearances.

After two years, Harris compiled a comprehensive report on the fate of some 9,500 known victims, as well as the structure of the regime’s repressive apparatus.

Harris informed the U.S. government that the dictatorship had “a clear intention to exterminate” its enemies - angering both the dictatorship and U.S. defense contractors who saw $400 million in arms sales nixed by President Carter following Harris' 1978 report.

In 2000, he established the “Tex Harris Award” for creative dissent by a Foreign Service specialist, honoring those who broke ranks to denounce crimes.

At: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/world/us-activist-for-disappeared-tex-harris-dead-at-79.phtml

U.S. diplomat Allen "Tex" Harris, 1940-2020.

Harris marshaled U.S. Embassy resources to document and draw attention to the Argentine military regime's campaign of torture, disappearances and state terror in the late 1970s.

[Judi Lynn]

1. What a tremendous article concerning a real U.S. American patriot and courageous humanitarian.

No doubt the dictatorship would have loved to have him assassinated. He clearly was far more of a man, or a human, than Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who encouraged and approved what the killers were doing throughout.

It has been so long since we've heard of any U.S. American of this caliber working for our government, with the exception of the brave people who testified at the recent House of Representatives hearings on Ukraine's President and the orange perversion.

"Tex" Harris clearly knew he could be snuffed out very easily every day he was there during the Dirty War, but he kept on ticking. May he rest in peace knowing he was one of the few who actually met the challenge, and became far more than most people ever will.

Love the Buenos Aires Times photo of him with his wife. They looked like a wonderful couple with a ton of spirit.

Thank you, sandensea.

[sandensea]

2. That he was, Judi. Tex Harris would've never lasted in Idi Trumpin's administration.

You mentioned that the Argentine dictatorship would've had him killed if they could've - and sure enough, here he is recounting one close call at the time.

This was in one of his very last interviews, just last year.

[Judi Lynn]

3. No doubt his memory of seeing info. regarding coroner's reports in the movie might have saved him!

Sounds very likely they had hoped to trap him on the long country road and use that time-worn claim he was shot because he seemed to be going for a weapon.

What a treasure Tex Harris was to the diplomatic corps. He surely put ordinary right-wing diplomats to shame, didn't he? You wouldn't know they all worked for the same State Department of the same country.

Had to notice his long-horn tie clasp (he needed the string tie to hold his clasp in place) immediately upon seeing his picture, and the picture in the video of his car shows his pride in his Texas heritage manifested also in a humongous car hood ornament! He wouldn't have been hard to spot driving anywhere.

Sounds as if he became very deeply involved in learning what the dictatorship's activities were, and worked as hard as he could within his position to help the struggle of the victims.

Had never seen that still photograph of a poor mother trying to beg soldiers to not harm her family member they were rushing off to torture and worse. The moment you see it, you feel overwhelmed by her anguish and it makes what they experienced that much more real than in simply reading about it. It reminds you this scene from hell played out so far over 30,000 times within a few years.

Found a photo of Tex Harris with two other Princeton grads. attending a reunion, thought it was pretty funny, considering!



Thank you for the video. It was excellent hearing his harrowing experience, and the moment of staring reality in the face at close range.